FUNDING of €2.25 million has been put in place for the purchase of the Biblical Centre on Dominick Street under the Limerick Regeneration Programme.
FUNDING of €2.25 million has been put in place for the purchase of the Biblical Centre on Dominick Street under the Limerick Regeneration Programme.The Office of Regeneration and Limerick City Council, who have been trying to acquire and redevelop strategic sites to stimulate the new enterprise in the city centre, have earmarked the Biblical Centre as a skills training centre to support the nascent film and TV production industry in the area.
“This is a very welcome initiative and I’m delighted that the funding has been provided towards the purchase of the Biblical Centre. I am very much looking forward to seeing this important project in operation,” Finance Minister Michael Noonan said this week.
One of the major challenges facing the industry is the lack of professional staff and trades people to build sets for example, and this new training centre is expected to greatly assist in addressing this need.
The centre will be operated by Innovate Limerick, which was established by Limerick City and County Council in 2014 and they have been tasked to design and implement a range of training initiatives to up-skill potential staff and places will be specifically reserved on these courses for the regeneration communities.
Innovate Limerick will be working with Troy Studios who have been looking to establish an international film studio in Castletroy. In addition to the Troy Studios training programmes, a number of other organisations will also use the centre.
According to Michelle Brassil from Troy Studios the move to set up the Production and Digital Skills Academy shows the joined up thinking by everyone involved.
“Limerick has shown that all the components are already in place for the Academy to be a success. In providing world-class film studio infrastructure, Troy Studios will be the enabler for incoming productions that will seek to employ local production crews, trained to a very high standard.
“The Academy is a significant step forward in meeting this potential demand,” said Ms Brassil.
by Alan Jacques
alan@limerickpost.ie
